The thing about addiction

Everyone is addicted to something. My vices are coffee, cigarettes, anti-depressants, sleeping pills and apparently blogging :o)

I've recently realised that my Mom is addicted to the internet and obsessed by crime in South Africa. I've been staying here since my discharge from the hospital last week Sunday and I promise I've never seen anything like it. She works from home most days and spends most of the day logged into www.crimexpo.org

It's a great idea the website, but it's scary how much time she spends reading all the posts and newsflashes et al. She even gets twitchy if she can't log on at least every hour.

Not only is it this website, but the internet in general, surfing for any and all crime stats relating to South Africa. It's all good and well to be concerned, but shit, this is just too much. I don't know what to do to make it stop.

I kid you not when I say her eyes gloss over and she can't hear a word you say when she's on the site, it's like watching a heroine addict after a hit, the blank expression and shutting out the world.

To make things worse, my stepdad is also an internet junkie. Seriously, the only time you see him is when he leaves his study to make coffee or to go outside for a smoke. They're both as pale as ghosts and I suspect they suffer from a bit of depression, but I believe theirs can be cured by a good dose of Vitamin D from getting a bit of sun.

We have boiling hot summers here, but it's only spring, so the sun is just right and there's always a breeze blowing. If I could just get them outside. I'm thinking Format C:, but that will give them a greater excuse to spend more time behind the PC's to 'fix' them.

Sheesh, you can't win!